Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

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Overall Recommendation:

A beautiful story about an apartment that slips through time when the people visiting are at crossroads in life, The Seven Year Slip continues to show how Ashley Poston shines in this genre. While setting up the story took a little time, once Iwan and Clementine met in this apartment, the tale of heartbreak, grief and love across time really took off. I loved how all of these topics were dealt with and came to love the protagonists and their journey so much! A definite must read if you loved Ashley’s previous works.

CW: suicide

The Seven Year Slip is a story about pasts meeting present, grief over a loved one, and the make-up of a perfect meal. While that all sounds like different elements a book could singularly focus on, the way Ashley Poston was able to weave together such a beautiful story with all of these pieces equally important truly made it such an amazing read.

In her aunt’s apartment that slips through time, Clementine is at a crossroads in life, though she may not have fully known it at the time. Working at the same place for the last 7 years, she’s up for a huge promotion that would take more hours and commitment from her life. But her adventurous heart she kept locked away after the passing of her aunt is slowly stirring again.

Enter the young man she meets in said apartment. Iwan, also, is at a crossroads, looking for a job opportunity in the big city to cook at his grandfather’s favourite restaurant. These two strangers meet in this apartment out of time as Iwan is living seven years in the past. And rule #2 set by Clementine’s aunt is to never fall in love in this apartment as it only leads to heartache. Oh my feels.

The romance was slow at first – it also took a while to get to their first meeting – and I didn’t fully feel invested in a budding romance initially either. After all, Clementine knows better and it just wouldn’t work out in timing. But Ashley’s prose is absolutely beautiful, with a huge focus on food as Iwan is a chef. Their conversations about what makes a perfect meal – not only the food itself but the experiences and memories with those we eat with – made my heart melt (and my stomach rumble).

It is rarely the food that makes the meal, but the people we share it with. A family spaghetti recipe passed down from your grandma…A cardboard pizza across a yellow table. A friend, lost in a memory, but alive in the taste of a half-burnt brownie.

Love in a lemon pie.

There is definitely an obsession with lemons in this book and I’m all for it. From there, I fell in love with this book as the pacing was beautifully presented.

As the apartment kept throwing Iwan and Clementine together in that merging of times, they come to meet in the present where their relationship isn’t the same. The feels were SO real here as my heart broke for Clementine who sees one version of Iwan that is seven years old versus his present day that has grown from some of his idealistic mentality. I loved how the theme of growth and change is important while also holding onto the parts of you that you once held dear. This romance was lovely not because it was a little steamy in areas but because they’re people who fell in love with each other, older and younger versions, for who they are, with all the uncertainty and mistakes and brokenness.

To end this review, the last element I thought was beautifully addressed was how someone deals with grief. Or not deal with grief. It was raw, real (because of the stage of life Ashley was in when writing this final version), and wholly immersive as Clementine struggled with the loss of her aunt who brought the adventurous side of herself out. I think if you’re someone who has dealt with grief (or are still dealing with grief), maybe this book is comforting in the sense that you’re not alone with those raw feelings. Time doesn’t heal all wounds, but perhaps it lessens the pain when shared with others, and over a perfect meal.